Ella puts on one of her Christmas presents. This is from Ms Mariah their babysitter :)

End result...

I had to bite the bullet and take Mark to the dr. Strep and he has a rattling in his chest. Good thing I took him in. Strong meds and lots of r&r and he should be good to go by end of tomorrow.

On a lighter note - look at all of the wonderful Christmas cards I've received so far. Thank you to everyone who has sent me one!! I love cards!

Mostly finished Birdhouses

I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

Painting Birdhouses Day

Mark is feeling a little better thanks to our friend ibuprofen so I decided to get the Birdhouses done today so we can put them in the tree!

Will post the finish product soon!

A Childs Perspective - part 3

On a very important conversation during one of Marks favorite tv shows "Little Einsteins".

Mark - Mommy (in a condescending tone) Rocket needs to go get the soup so his grandma can eat it and feel better!"
Mommy - well they better stop talking so they can get that soup back...I bet you could help them get it back so fast!
Mark - Mommy you are So Funny! I can't go help them Mommy. I am WAY too big to fit in the TV.

I love his deductions.

Poor sickly Mark

Mark and I have been up since 2:30. E is feeling ignored. Yep...awesome morning so far :)

Friday Foul

Friday is my most favorite day. Tomorrow I had it all planned out. I was going to pick lily up at 9:30 and head to my friends house where Santa was going to be eagerly waiting to tell the kids a story and have each one sit on his lap. Alas poor Mark feeling sluggish headed upstairs at his own will and I discovered a fever. Bah. Wicked wicked Fever couldn't you have waited just 24 hours? I learned long ago not to tell the kids what the plans are until we are approaching our destination just in case it didn't work out...this would be one of those times the patient mommy in me paid off. No Santa tomorrow. No frozen yogurt at peach wave. This will be a day of rest for the kids and a day of cleaning for mommy.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

A Child's Perspective - Day 2

I had my holiday office party last Friday and I had about 20 minutes to get dressed after picking the kids up from daycare and taking them home. As I was leaving the house and picking up all the last minute items, Mark told me that he really wanted to go to my work with me. I explained that it was a party and he was going to stay home with Camila for the evening. Not happy with this answer, he pouted away. About 30 seconds later he comes to me with his flashlight and says "here, mommy take my flashlight, it's really dark out there" I told him as much as I appreciated it, he needed it more than I would and assured him i would go right to my car. He said "No, mommy, take my flashlight so you are safe from all the monsters and when you see them you shine it in their eyes and they will go away!"

Sweet boy - always looking out for mommy. :)

Notations

Good Morning & Happy Sunday!

This morning I sat on the couch wishing I had a cup of coffee and just watched my two little ones converse between episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and realized that while I may not have time to run to the computer and post new pictures all the time, I am able to use the fantastic invention that is the smart phone and post one of the many hilarity's I hear from their mouths. While I will try my very hardest to paint the picture, I realize that some of these may be "had to be there" kind of moments. Even still, I find my children hilarious and they are fantastic stories to share.


I have just about finished all of my Christmas shopping.While most of my spoilage goes to Jim & the kids, it's the onesie gifts to individuals that I'm usually working on right up to Christmas morning with a trip to Walgreens...good ole Walgreens. Not only do I have most of my shopping done, but every bit of shopping I have done is wrapped and under the tree! I am ALWAYS stuck wrapping on Christmas Eve. Not this year I told myself. This year I would wrap as I go and let me tell you it is an amazingly stress free feeling to know that my work is just about done. One year I will get as good as Cindy and have my gifts bought and wrapped by Easter =P  This brings me to my "Unwrapping of the Presents"story...

To preface - last Sunday was Ella's birthday party. On Monday morning we had our normal routine. Mommy in the shower - kids on the bed watching Disney until it's their turn to get ready for school. I got out of the shower and began brushing my teeth and calling out to the kids as I normally do and this time I had no answer. I got my robe on and headed out to the hallway and called out to both of the little ones and I hear "MOMMY! Look What I GOT!" in a Mark voice and "Wow that's so CUTE!" in an Ella voice. I immediately knew...I ran as fast as i could to the end of the stair only to see 5 of the wrapped Christmas presents opened. I immediately shouted at both of them to get their you know whats upstairs and had a talk to both of them about unwrapping these presents. "But it IS Christmas, Mommy" and "It's my turn for my Birthday" are the phrases that kept leaving Mark's lips. Nonetheless, I thought my coming to Jesus talk did the trick. I didn't realize the half unwrapped gifts they left still under the tree. This posed as temptation the entire week until they just couldn't take it anymore and waited for the right moment to start ripping in. Who could blame them really? All of these Christmas shows and Christmas music and presents....who wouldn't be in the mood to start tearing into a mountain of presents? So yesterday - as I hit the "confirm purchase" on my last online shopping order I hear "WOAH! THat's So cool!! LETS FIND YOU ONE ELLA!" then proceeded to hear the ripping of paper. My legs didn't carry me fast enough and the last of the sleeping bags were unwrapped and taken out of their packaging, Christmas Eve pajamas laid on the floor and coloring books were opened and flipped as if they had been on break from a good read. Instead of a look of fear as I entered the living room, instead I was showered with hugs and thank yous. My loud words were interrupted by even more thank yous for the presents. I mean what do you do with this? A 2 and a 3 year old at each leg telling you how much they love the presents with joy and excitement on their face and all I can think of is what an idiot I am for leaving the presents there in the first place. Next year - presents are hidden in the attic until Christmas morning!

I've spent entirely too long away from the hoodlums, so I must head back. I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Updates

Many many updates since I've last been on.

Elizabeth broke her arm
Mommy got the flu
then the next day Mommy & Daddy got food poisoning.

Hasn't been the best few weeks, but I'm excited for Christmas! We got our tree up! Yay!

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Happy 2nd birthday sweet girl!